


Maybe I'll Understand You

by Elder_Schraderham



Category: From Beyond (1986), Re-Animator (1985)
Genre: 80's Music, Brotherly Bonding, Conventions, Gen, Road Trips, Twins, broverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 06:43:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8879953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elder_Schraderham/pseuds/Elder_Schraderham
Summary: Dan finds out about a Science Convention in New York City and suggests that he and Herbert go. Herbert can’t fly, and Dan can’t drive in a car for very long. Seeming to disregard the idea, Herbert’s brother Crawford asks if the two are going and if someone could drive with the other brother who didn’t fly. Feeling as the two should connect more, Dan forces Herbert into a 4 hour car ride with his twin brother. 80′s music and mild brotherly bonding ensues.





	

Dan Cain and his roommate, Herbert West, were sitting around the dining room table for breakfast early one Sunday morning. Neither had work, for once, and decided to have some breakfast before Herbert would disappear for the remainder of the day to do Gods only know what in his lab hidden in the basement. 

Herbert was busy going over his notes on a recent experiment, trying to figure out where he went wrong and how he could fix it. Dan, on the other hand, decided to burry his nose in the morning paper to see what was going on in the small town of Arkham and beyond. Within the paper, he saw a small section for Miskatonic University an a small article caught his attention.

The small article was about a science convention being held only a few hours away in New York. He read it over a few times, sort of familiar with the convention. More than likely hearing other doctors at the hospital talking about it and trying to go. The convention really caught his attention and thought that it would be a good idea for them to go. They could learn a lot and possibly find other people that would understand their private work. 

“The National Science Convention is going to be in New York this year.” Dan stated to his roommate.

“Hmm.” Herbert was still reading over his notes, flipping between two pages.

“Science Convention in New York. Could be interesting to go?” He rustled the paper a bit as he reached for his coffee cup and took a sip of it, going back to reading over the rest of the Miskatonic University section. 

“Why would we do that?”

“Get other insight from other doctors in the field? Could help us both work related and-“

“No.” Herbert finally tore his eyes from the notebook to look at Dan. “No one else is to know of the other work. You remember what happened before? No. Not going to happen.”

“I didn’t say we’d tell people about it. Just do some covert questioning and note taking. We could learn something ya know?”

“No.” And with that, Herbert went back to his notes.

“Come on, Herbert. Forget I even mentioned the other work. What if we went for just work related learning? We could easily get paid for going. A weekend away from here and to be around other scientists?”

“Dan.” Herbert groaned.

“Think about it.”

Herbert said nothing in regards to the conference but ended up start muttering to himself about a error he could’ve made in his notes. He swiftly stood up, grabbing his notebook and coffee mug before disappearing into the basement. Dan was then left alone in the dinning room, a normal occurrence for their mornings. 

The rest of the day went by with little to no interaction with Herbert. Dan would go check on him around seven or so, when he thought his presence would be needed to help Herbert. Most of his day was spent doing menial things around the house, laundry and some cleaning up here and there. 

By the time that Dan was going to venture down to see if Herbert required any assistance with anything, the phone rang. Confused on who would be calling on a Sunday night, he went to answer it.

“Dan Cain.”

“Hey Dan, it’s Crawford.”

“Oh, hi Crawford. What do I owe this call?”

“I was wondering if you and Herbert heard about the Science Convention in New York?”

“Yeah, I just read about that in the paper this morning. Are you going to go?”

“I want to go, yes. Problem is, I don’t fly and would need to drive. I have no problem driving four hours, but not alone.”

“Listen, I was just about to go ask Herbert again if he wanted to go or not. He never really gave a straight answer this morning when I asked him.”

“Typical.”

“Heh, yeah. I’ll do what I can to convince him to go. Even if he didn’t want to go, I would go with you if I didn’t get car sick so badly.”

“That’s ironic, isn’t it?” Dan could hear Crawford laugh a bit on the other end.

“A little bit. I’ll do my best to convince him to go and he could always go with you, if you didn’t mind that. I know how you two can be.”

“I’m sure we can be civil for a short amount of time like that.”

“I’ll do what I can and will let you know.”

“Thank you, Dan.”

“I’ll call you back with an actual answer soon.”

“Thanks again, Dan.”

“Course, Crawford. I’ll talk to you later.”

“See you later, Dan.”

And with that, Dan hung up the phone with a small sigh. Now he had to do his damnedest to get Herbert to agree to go. With a new mission in mind, Dan headed to the stairs that lead to the basement and padded down.

Every time Dan walked into the basement, he always feared that Herbert would be in the middle of something and would interrupt him. Thankfully when he gently knocked on the door and poked his head in the lab, Herbert’s nose was in his notes again. Dan slowly made his way in and over to where Herbert sat on a stool by one of the desks. Neon green liquid was glowing brightly in front of Herbert, casting a eerie green gleam onto his face. Still not sure what was in that liquid, it sort of made Dan uncomfortable.

“I thought about what you said this morning.” Herbert said.

Dan gave Herbert a strange look. “About what?”

“That convention. You’re right. It could be an excellent way to do some covert research on what other scientists are doing. Could possibly borrow other scientist’s theories into what we’re doing here.”

“So, you want to go?”

“Yes.”

“Perfect. I was going to go to the travel agent tomorrow and try to see if I could book a flight-“

“I don’t fly, Dan.” Herbert completely cut off his roommate.

“Well I can’t be in a car for four hours.”

“I’m not going to drive alone for four hours then.”

“Fine. I’ll ask around to other doctors if anyone is interesting in going. As long as you promise to behave yourself.”

“Yes, yes.” Herbert waved him off.

“So, do you need any assistance tonight or are you just reading over notes tonight?”

“Notes.”

“Want me to go?”

“Yes.”

“Fine. In case I go to bed before you emerge, I’m going to get up early before work tomorrow and go to the travel agent to get a plane ticket then.”

“Fine.”

As Dan climbed back up the stairs, a smile began to spread on his face. He had already gotten someone to drive along with Herbert. It went almost too perfectly and as painless as possible. This was a good night for Daniel Cain. The day of the initial trip, now that was going to be a bad day for Daniel Cain. 

Once back upstairs, he headed back over to the phone and called Crawford back. He then explained that Herbert wanted to go and he would drive with him to the convention. Crawford was more or less happy to be going to the convention and having someone in the car with him, but not overly as much about the person being his brother. 

The day of the travel date rapidly approached, much sooner than expected. Herbert and Crawford had no idea they were going to be having some brotherly bonding time the day before the convention on their drive down. The two brothers were driving down the day before the convention started so they could be down in time and then Dan would fly in early the next morning. So the two would have to deal with each other without Dan’s aid for around twenty four hours.

Crawford had driven to Dan and Herbert’s house at around eight in the morning the day before the convention. He had parked his 1974 Ventura in the stone driveway next to Dan’s ’83 Trans Am, mostly to hide it from the sight of his brother. A part of him always got the jitters when he went over to Dan and Herbert’s house. Only Herbert would find an old funeral home next to a cemetery to live in. Only his brother…

He slowly made his way up the stairs, fidgeting with his hands as he went to the door and knocked a few times. Inside, he was just praying that Dan would answer the door and not his brother. He would know for sure that Herbert would change his mind immediately once he saw that he was going to be going with his brother. 

Thankfully it was Dan who answered the door with a small smile. “Hi, Crawford.”

“Hey, Dan.”

Dan stood aside the door and allowed Crawford to walk in. Still fidgeting with his hands, he walked in meekly and stood in the entrance of the house. Dan shut the door.

“Want a drink or something?”

“Uh, no thanks.”

Dan nodded. “Herbert’s still downstairs in the lab. He’s been up all night working, as usual.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“I’ll go get him. Make yourself at home.”

Crawford nodded as Dan went down the hall and to the basement door. Soon, Dan disappeared down the stairs and left Crawford all alone in the old funeral home. He began to slowly meander into the living room. The dusty furniture gave him a strange feeling and decided to avoid those and just walk around. On one of the tables, an open book caught his attention and decided to flip through that until Dan and Herbert emerged. 

A few minutes later, footsteps were heard walking up the stairs and voices began to get more clear. Dan and Herbert were already bickering about something, Crawford didn’t really take notice to what. All he could hear was, “what is he doing here?”

He then looked up from the book at his friend and brother. Herbert was glaring at his brother. 

“You wanted someone to drive with you, you didn’t say who.” Dan answered. “You promised me you’d be nice to whoever I found for you.”

Dan was doing his best to keep calm in front of the two. The first time that Dan had met Crawford was a very awkward encounter and one that Dan will never forget. They had bumped into each other at Miskatonic University and Dan started asking him strange questions about class work. Crawford, confused about what he was asking didn’t really know how to respond. He sort of just kept quiet until Dan was finished talking. That was around the same time that Herbert had turned the corner of the hallway and Crawford said, “I think you’re looking for him,” and pointed to Herbert.

That was when Dan had the shocking realization that Herbert had a twin brother that just so happened to go to Miskatonic for a different science field. They had to sit Dan down and explain that they were indeed twin brothers, but got separated at brith and adopted to different sets of parents. 

To this day, Dan never forgot that awkward encounter and still dreads talking to both brothers in the same room. If Herbert didn’t wear glasses, there was no way in hell that Dan could tell them apart by looking at them. When they spoke, now he could definitely tell who was who. Herbert was a jerk while Crawford was very sweet and kind.

“But him?” Herbert then asked, jerking Dan back from his awkward memories.

“Yes him.”

“I’d rather have a panic attack on a plane than be in a car with him.”

“Herbert, be nice. You said you’d behave.”

“But Dan.” Herbert whined.

“Bond with your brother for god sake.” Dan sighed. It was like dealing with a toddler.

After a short facial conversation between Dan and Herbert, he finally sighed and gave in. he then added on a, “I won’t enjoy this,” for good measures. 

Soon the two brothers were walking out the door as Dan watched from the porch like a protective mother of her children, obviously having a favorite of the two. “Herbert, behave. Especially because Crawford agreed to drive. I’ll meet up with you two at the hotel tomorrow morning. Play nice you two.”

The two got into Crawford’s car and soon they were off on an awkward four hour journey. Not even a minute into the car ride, Herbert had his nose in a book. Dan never said that they had to actually converse with one another.

It took about fifteen minutes to get to the highway. Once on the highway, Crawford thought that he would break the silence.

“So, hows your outside research going?”

Herbert groaned. “Small talk? Really?”

“Well I’m not going to sit in a silent car for four hours, Herbert.”

“Dan said to be nice and me being nice is not conversing with you.”

Crawford shook his head. “I’m baffled by the fact that we have the same DNA.”

“And yet we are two polar opposite people with one thing in common.”

“And what’s that?”

“We both know nothing about our birth mother. And I personally don't mind it.”

“How could you say that? You don’t have any curiosity whatsoever to find our mother and find out why she gave us up? To find the truth? None at all?”

“I’d be perfectly okay with not finding out. Probably be more okay with the fact that I didn’t have an identical twin brother.”

Crawford rolled his eyes. Sometimes Herbert could be so cruel to him. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“I haven’t slept in three years.” He then corrected. 

“Of course you haven’t…” Crawford expected nothing less from Herbert West.

“It’s part of the result of my research. And what has your research done for you, Crawford? Let you see into other dimensions?”

Crawford sighed. “As I’ve told you time and time again, my theories have nothing to do with other dimensions. It’s all in this plane of reality but so heightened that we cannot see it without the usage of a special machine-“

“Yes, with the use of a machine. You can’t do anything without it. It heightens a useless gland in the brain and for what? Nothing to be done unless the use of a machine.”

“The pineal gland is an important part of the brain. Besides it being a potential third eye, it does help regulate sleep patterns of humans. I’m assuming that your pineal gland doesn’t work because of the fact that you haven’t slept in three years.”

“Minor details. It’s so menial that obviously it’s not affecting me in any manners.”

“Even so, with this machine it opens up a whole new world of things that are around us all the time and we can actually see and interact with these creatures.”

“Science fiction.”

“Oh really? What I do is considered ‘science fiction’ in your eyes?”

“Yes.”

“And what makes your research reality and not some weird horror science fiction story?”

“Because I don’t need a silly machine to make my theories and research work. My research is continuously portable and easy to do tests anywhere and on anything. No machine’s required, just test subjects and my serum.”

“As long as they’re dead.” Crawford scoffed.

“But at least I don’t need a machine to make my research work properly.”

“How easy is it to get your hands on test subjects, Herbert? How many things have you gotten away with for the sake of your research?’

“That is none of your business.”

“And yet your shirts say otherwise. How many shirts do you go through in a single experiment? Four? Which ones are just pure crimson from the amount of blood on them?”

“At least I have a decent wardrobe with shirts my size. Do you even look at the sizes when you get shirts? Two size too large sweaters and two size too small t-shirts?”

“You’re so aggravating to talk to.” Crawford huffed. 

“You’re the one that wanted small talk. And now you’re getting small talk.”

“I’d rather go back to silence.”

“Perfect.”

And that’s what the two did. Herbert returned to his book as Crawford rolled his eyes and directed his undivided attention to the road. They were barely twenty minutes into their four hour car ride and he already regretted agreeing to go with his brother. His insufferable, argumentative, defensive, identical twin brother. 

It wasn’t until they hit the forty five minute mark when the silence was really starting to get to Crawford. Unlike his brother, he couldn’t read in the car. Hell, he was driving and could do much of anything. He was very limited. After a few more minutes, around the forty seven minute mark, he sighed.

“Herbert I’m turning the radio on.”

“Fine.”

Crawford flipped on the radio as a Tears for Fears song was playing. He smiled a bit to the overplayed pop song from the second British Invasion. It also happened to be one of Crawford’s favorite Tears for Fears song out of his favorite music genre, British New Wave. Something about the over electronic sound of the songs just seemed to catch his ear. 

Herbert, on the other hand, didn’t enjoy the same sort of genre as his brother. Most people didn’t believe that he did indeed listen to music, just not a lot of it. He did enjoy the popular songs of the year. But that didn’t stop him from still tuning out his brother’s music as he continued to read his book.

It was about at the hour fifty five mark when Herbert had closed his book. Now he was going to be painfully bored the rest of the trip, seeing as that the other book he brought with was in the trunk of the car. Just halfway through the trip and now he was going to have to actually pay attention to his brother and the music he was listening to. 

Not all of the songs had annoyed him. What did annoy him was his brother’s occasional singing to some of the songs. That had annoyed him to no end. As much as he detested his brother, his singing was below par. 

“How was your book?” Crawford asked, noticing his brother had set down the book he had been reading. 

“Back to the small talk again?” Herbert raised an eyebrow. 

“Sorry that I try to connect with my brother. Is that so wrong?”

“Apparently.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“Says the one willingly listening to Duran Duran.” Herbert scoffed as he gestured to the car radio.

“Excuse you. I happen to like Duran Duran. Besides, I’m sure you couldn’t find anything better to listen to anyway.”

“Oh really?” Herbert took it as a challenge and turned the radio dial and found a Madonna song instead. “And here we have a decent song.”

“Madonna? Decent? I had hope for you, Herbert, and yet you let me down.”

“Let you down? Madonna is a beautiful cultural icon who makes beautiful music.”

“You’re the last person I’d imagine defending Madonna.”

“Okay, you find something better.” Herbert mocked.

“I will.” 

Crawford began to scan the radio for a song that was better than Madonna. Before he flipped to one more station, he heard the familiar opening to a a-ha song and just had to keep it on. At least, he wanted to. A-ha was a sort of interesting band mix, especially with the song that he decided to keep on. 

“There.”

“Fine.”

“Wait, really?” Crawford snuck a quick glance to his brother in the passenger seat.

“Fine. That’s all I said. Fine.”

“Fine. Then it’s staying on.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

The two brothers returned to silence again, just letting the popular new wave song play through the speakers of the car. Herbert stared out the window, eyes fixated on the mountain range in the distance. On the other hand, Crawford was doing his best to keep concentrated on the road. This was one of his favorite songs by this particular band, if not of all time, and he was fighting back the urge to sing. Only to keep the judgement away from his brother.

At about the hour fifty nine mark, Crawford was breaking. He couldn’t keep his enthusiasm for the song bottled up any longer. Knowing he’d be judged by his brother, he began to sing along to the song.

Herbert said nothing as his brother went to singing the song. He was too busy tapping his fingers on the door to the beat of the song. Slowly, he was breaking. This was one of those songs that he tended to hum to when he was working at the hospital. Before he did anything, Herbert turned to his brother. 

“Nothing we do in this vehicle leaves this vehicle. Are we clear?”

Crawford stopped singing and made a weird face. “Why? We haven’t been doing anything that would need to be discussed further anyway.”

“Are we clear?” Herbert asked again, more sternly this time.

“Yes, fine. We’re clear. Anything that happens in the car will stay in the car. You have my word.” Crawford agreed, still a bit confused. 

Still giving his brother a strange sideways glance, he went back to singing to the song on the radio. Within a few seconds, Crawford heard a hum from his right. A smile spread on his face. He knew what Herbert was going on about now. 

“Dr. Herbert West. Humming along to a popular song on the radio?” Crawford smirked.

“This doesn’t leave the car.” He warned.

“You have my word.” After a few breaths, Crawford pipped up again. “So wait. You actually enjoy listening to music?”

“Sometimes.” Herbert admitted. “Mostly at the hospital. Not when I’m working on other projects and experiments. Too distracting.”

“I don’t get it. You’re not the kind of person that would get into music. Especially popular songs. It doesn’t seem… you.”

“Well, it is… occasionally. Mostly because that’s all that the hospital plays. Some of the songs aren’t bad and are tolerable to listen to.”

“Actual artists that you listen to that would surprise anyone who knew, go.”

“Oingo Boingo. The Buggles. Madonna. Cindy Lauper. Hall and Oates. DEVO.”

Crawford nodded, almost approvingly. “We might have more in common that I originally anticipated, brother.”

“None of this-“

“-leaves the car. I know, I know.” Crawford finished his twin’s sentence. “As you’ve stated before. And I will repeat, again, that you have my word that none of this will be repeated to anyone. Got it?”

“Good.”

The two went back to silence as the song faded out and a commercial began to play. Herbert returned to staring blankly out the window at the mountain range that hadn’t seemed to move very far. 

At about the two hour and four minute mark, Crawford began to speak again. “You know, I really hope an Oingo Boingo song comes on the radio at some point. Now you really have me excited for Danny Elfman’s music.”

“Yes, blame me for your need to hear them.”

“I will blame you for it, you’re the one who brought them up.”

“You still asked what bands I did in fact listen to. And I listed them to you. You’re the one who picked one out of a list. Therefore-“

“Just shut up with your nonsense logic for two seconds.” Crawford shushed his brother and turned up the volume on the radio. “Marshall Crenshaw is amazing.”

A bit peeved that his brother completely cut him off from defending himself, he soon calmed down when he heard the song on the radio. Crenshaw wasn’t one of Herbert’s all time favorite artists, but he did enjoy his music when it did come on. He nodded in agreement to his brother. “He’s a decent artist.”

Three and a half hours into the trip, the brothers had flipped up and down the radio stations that would stay in at least fourteen times. Every so often they’d bicker about a song choice or give into whatever the other wanted to listen to. Occasionally they’d find a song that they’d both listen to and enjoy. Crawford even got to listen to an Oingo Boingo song that he wanted to hear. 

The entire car ride, the two were only at each other’s throats a few times. Not enough to want to legitimately kill each other over. Crawford felt like the two had really made an actual connection since they first met at Miskatonic University. 

They would never forget the day they met. Both brothers were touring Miskatonic for their programs. Herbert for biochemistry and Crawford for electrochemistry. They both ended up at the school. Still in high school at the time, they were touring around the school separately. It wasn’t until they had intersected at one of the lab rooms when they actually saw one another and just stopped, dumbfounded at what was happening. 

Both of their guides sort of just stopped their tours and let the two figure out what was happening. The guides saw that they didn’t know each other existed and decided to let them talk. That was when both of them found out that they were legitimately twins and were both separated at birth and adopted to different families. That and a DNA test that showed that they shared one hundred percent of the same DNA sort of did the trick too. Ever since then, they sort of just accepted the fact that they were twins and that was that. 

Throughout school they had minimal interactions and just did their own studying and research for their separate degrees. After Herbert’s first year, he had the chance to go to Switzerland to study with a renown scientist who requested his assistance with his theories and ideas. Herbert quickly agreed and flew out to the European country, very drugged up to last on the plane. Despite that, he regretted none of it and thought it was an experience of a life time… That was until their experiments went awry and he was forcefully taken into custody and given an psych evaluation before being shipped back home a mere eight months later.

Partway through their third year was when Herbert moved in with Dan when he shortly returned from Switzerland. Getting back into schooling and his own personal work on the side, he forgot about Crawford all together. Out of sight, out of mind. Of course Crawford knew of his return to the school, but didn’t acknowledge him because he knew how Herbert was. The next time they spoke since his return was when Dan had mistaken him for Herbert. Since then, it was Dan who brought it upon himself to make the brothers interact; only for the fact that Dan had then befriended Crawford.

The only part of their graduation that was nice was the fact that they didn’t have the same last name and went up with the other T’s and W’s and not after one another. Granted, it did confuse everyone who attended the graduation, but it was all worth it to be treated as individuals. 

Almost eight years later since their first meeting, they were finally getting along and almost bonding as brothers should. All it took was a four hour car ride to New York City to do that. Who would’ve thunk it?

In no time at all, Crawford had pulled into the hotel check in lot. They retrieved their bags from the trunk of the car and headed into the lobby of the hotel, preparing themselves for the potential twin jokes from the desk clerk. Crawford found some of the jokes quite amusing, Herbert on the other hand did not. He despised any jokes in relations to being a twin. It was quite obvious that they were in fact related and should refrain from all jokes because they have heard all of the potential jokes that one could make. 

With their own mental barriers put up, they both arrived at the front desk for check in. The woman behind the desk was on the phone, writing something in a notepad down. She did notice the two because she held up a finger to indicate that she would be with them in a moment. Crawford and Herbert exchanged looks before focusing back on the woman who was finishing up on the phone. When she set the phone back in the cradle and looked up, she was taken aback by the site of the brothers.

“Oh. I wasn’t aware of a twin convention this weekend.” She smiled. 

Crawford did his best to put on a fake smile, which was a lot more than Herbert would do. He then attempted to force a laugh but that didn’t work as well. Crawford cleared his throat. “We’re actually here for the Science Convention.”

“Oh excellent.” She smiled happily. “How long have you two been apart of twin research?”

Herbert turned away from the woman and groaned. That one actually sort of annoyed Crawford as well, but played it off a lot better. He elbowed Herbert to keep it down as he kept talking. “We’re both two separate doctors and scientists.”

“My apologies to both of you.” She frowned, upset that she had assumed so much about the two. “Welcome, otherwise. Did you two need rooms? We’re almost booked up-“

It was there when Herbert jumped into the conversation to make this painful experience and conversation go by a lot quicker. “Reservations for two rooms under the name of ‘West’.”

The woman made a few clicks on the computer in front of her. “Herbert West?” She asked.

He rolled his eyes, a bit too obviously. “Yes.”

Crawford happened to notice it and elbow him to knock it off. They were doing so well before they got to the hotel. Twin assumptions and jokes usually were the most annoying thing about doing things together, which is why they mostly avoided them. It would’ve been different if they would’ve grown up together, but since they did not, it was a lot stranger of a situation than other twins. 

“Alright. It looks like the rooms are connected with a door in between them. How convenient is that?” She laughed a bit, looking up at the two.

“Right.” Crawford forced another smile.

Herbert had taken care of getting the rooms situated as the woman gave them their parking pass. Crawford, trusting his brother enough, left him alone to go find a parking spot in the hotel garage. It was a stupid thing to do, but he wouldn’t be long.

He was gone for less than five minutes, and when he returned to the lobby he didn’t see Herbert at the desk. Panic began to spread through his body that his brother had said something incredibly stupid and they were to leave the property at once. But that all dispersed when he saw Herbert in an arm chair in the lobby, nose in a book.

Crawford approached him. “Well?”

“Well, what?” Herbert asked, flipping a page in his book.

“Everything go okay? You didn’t say anything to mentally scar the woman?”

“You worry to much.” Herbert shut his book and stood from the arm chair. He put his hand in his pocket and retrieved two keys “Rooms 424 and 425. Take your pick.”

Crawford picked 425 and the two made their way to the elevator. To their luck, one was already open and ready to go. They walked in and hit the floor four button and the doors shut closed. As the elevator dinged, indicating their floor inclination, Crawford spoke.

“You were nice enough to grab my bag from the desk. Thanks.”

“Nothing that happened here today will ever be spoken of again.”

Crawford rolled his eyes. “What? You don’t want people to know that you can be a decent human being?”

“No. No one has to know that I actually get along with my brother.”

“Heaven forbid that you actually show compassion towards your family.”

“Sorry that I don’t get ‘attached’.”

“I do not feel like arguing with you again,” Crawford groaned.

The elevator door opened up to their floor and they made their way to their joint rooms. A couple had been waiting for the elevator were a bit surprised when the doors opened to a pair of identical twin brothers in the middle of a mild argument. They made their way past the couple as the couple tried to get away from the two as quickly as possible, unable to grasp the concept of arguing twin brothers. 

There was no stopping their argument until the two reached their separate hotel rooms. It was then when Crawford let his bag fall on the ground with a thud and let out a deep sigh.

“Herbert. We were doing so well the rest of the car ride and actually getting along. I’m done arguing with you for the day. That drive took a lot out of me, I’m going to take a nap. You do whatever your little heart desires, I don’t care. I’m tired, physically and arguing with you. We’re done with that. You’ve proven we can be civil. If we can go another few hours with that, that’d be great. But until then, I’m done with you. Goodnight.”

Crawford unlocked the door and kicked his bag into the room. Once it was far enough in, he shut the door with Herbert still standing in the hall. Dumbfounded with what had just happened, he shook it off and went into his room. 

Herbert claimed one of the two beds and left the other for Dan whenever he arrived the following morning. He sort of just threw his bag on the bed and grabbed the book he was reading. Doing a quick once around the room, he saw no good place to comfortably read his book. Deciding to return to the lobby to read, a part of him wanted to leave Crawford a note in case he needed to find him for any reason. That idea faded when he realized that he was a doctor and could easily figure out where his socially uncomfortable twin brother would’ve gone. 

When Crawford heard the door to Herbert’s room close again, he figured he was going to find a spot in the lobby to read. He sighed, actually sort of feeling bad that he kind of yelled at his brother. Despite how mean Herbert could be, Crawford just couldn’t be that way towards him. For some reason, he just felt bad every time he had to yell at Herbert. If he weren’t exhausted from the car ride down, he would’ve apologized almost immediately. A part of him did like the fact that Herbert would have that little outburst in his mind until they spoke again.

And that interaction would be after Crawford’s nap.

After a well deserved nap, Crawford awoke feeling refreshed and ready for whatever sitting around he was going to do the rest of the night. Once up and about again, he knocked on the door to Herbert’s side of the joint rooms to see if he were back yet. He waited a few seconds to see if he’d answer. Nothing. A few more seconds of silence passed before Crawford tried again.

Still nothing. He sighed and tried the handle. To his surprise it was unlocked. He poked his head in to find the room still empty. That only meant that Herbert was in the lobby somewhere. His nonexistent twin telepathy was telling him that that was his location within the confines of the hotel. That and the fact that he wasn’t an idiot.

As predicted, Crawford had found his brother sitting in the same armchair as earlier that day. He was still reading the same book as earlier, blocking everything else out in the lobby. Crawford slowly made his way up to his brother and sat across from him in a similar arm chair, hoping that his brother noticed his presence and wouldn’t have to say anything.

“Less cranky?” Herbert asked, shutting his book and actually looking at his brother.

“Less of a jerk?”

“Never.” He smirked.

“That’s not very comforting, Herbert.”

“Never said that it would be.”

Crawford rolled his eyes. “Are we going to be civil or still be bitter towards one another?”

“How long would we have to be civil? That’s the real question here.”

“I don’t know.”

“Care to get dinner and call it a night?” Herbert suggested.

Taken aback at Herbert’s idea, Crawford nodded. “Deal.” He was going to milk whatever kindness he could get out of his brother as soon and as much as he could in the short amount of time they had. 

Simultaneously, they stood and headed out to the city to find somewhere to get food. After another short argument about where to get food, they settled on a hole in the wall bar and grille across the street and were done with it. Once settled into a booth towards the back, to keep people from staring, they picked up normal human conversations.

They managed to stop each other from arguing a hand full of times and kept normal conversations going for the rest of the time at the bar. Crawford was sort of upset about the fact that all of the bonding that they’ve done over the day was all he was probably going to get in a while. He was going to really miss actually spending time and talking to his brother that didn’t result in a full blown argument and then silence. 

Crawford had agreed to pay for dinner, seeing that Herbert was covering both rooms for the stay of the convention. It was only fair. On their way out of the bar and back to their hotel, Crawford pipped up.

“Ya know, Dan would be really proud of us that we didn’t kill each other today.”

“You’re not wrong.”

“I know I’m not. And Dan’s not to know anything of our activities of the day?”

“Correct.”

“All that matters is that we didn’t kill each other or drive each other insane.”

“Also correct.”

“Does that mean there’s a chance you’ll be a bit nicer to me?” Crawford asked hopefully.

“Maybe.”

He nodded. “I’ll take what I can get.”

The two entered back into the hotel. Once inside, the two broke off again in their own directions. Herbert headed back to the armchairs and resumed his book while Crawford headed back up to his room for a shower and some down time. 

It didn’t take Herbert long at all before he finished his book and decided to head up to the room. Crawford had just gotten out of the shower and all comfy cozy in his pjs when he heard the door open and shut on the other side of the dividing door, indicating that his brother had finally returned. 

The walls were thin, and Crawford could hear Herbert on the other side of the wall on the phone. A safe assumption was that he was on the phone with Dan, reporting in and getting final details for the morning ahead. Crawford did his best to block out the conversation with the TV instead. It had been ages since he had the time to actually sit down and relax and watch mindless television for a few hours. 

Of course he didn’t find anything ‘mindless’ on, but a documentary about the nervous system. As a doctor and scientist, it sparked his interested and decided to leave it on. Might as well learn something. 

During the course of watching the documentary, Crawford had fallen asleep. On the other side of the dividing door, Herbert had just injected himself with a low dosage of his reagent serum to give himself a boost to keep going for the night. In the silence of the room as he was putting his syringe away, he heard a noise from Crawford’s room. Curious on what his brother was doing at quarter after one in the morning, he decided to investigate.

Herbert found the door unlocked between their rooms, not a surprise at the least. He was a bit surprised at the sight he did see in his room though. All the lights were still on, as well as the TV. Static of the box filled the room and somehow managed to sooth Crawford into a deep sleep. Deciding to keep the decent human being thing going, Herbert flipped off the TV and the lights. He looked at his brother and contemplated throwing a blanket on top of him, but decided against it seeing s there were none within easy access. Turning off the TV and lights were good enough. Once the room was quiet and dark, he headed back to his side and shut the door behind him.

He then spent the rest of the night and part of the morning going over his notes and seeing if there were a way to possibly add or take away anything to perfect his reagent serum. Pages and pages of notes and ideas later, he heard a small knock at the door that lead to Crawford’s room. 

Herbert perked up from his notebook at the sound. “Enter.”

A very sleepy Crawford opened the door and leaned against the frame. He wore glasses on his face, indicating that he had woken up in the middle of the night. His arms were crossed over his chest and a small smile graced his tired face.

“So. How was not sleeping?” Crawford asked, quickly glancing up at his brother. He hated when Crawford wore his glasses. They looked even more alike than normal and that bothered Herbert to no end. 

“Productive. How was wasting your time sleeping?” He sassed back.

“Can’t complain much. Only thing I will complain about is that you should’ve woken me up when you shut the lights off.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I hate sleeping in my contacts, Herbert. It’s awful for my eyes. Good thing I woke up in the middle of the night to take them out.” Herbert didn't say anything, but kept writing down a few notes. He did hear a sigh from the door. “Thank you for shutting off the lights and being a decent brother.”

“Don’t expect it-“

“-to last forever, I get it. Just accept the thank you and be done with it.”

“Fine.” He sighed and looked up at his brother again. “You’re welcome.”

Crawford nodded approvingly. “Wow. I should’ve recorded that for future reference. I don’t think I’ll ever hear you say that again. There is a first for everything.”

“Dan’s flight arrives at eight and he should be here around nine.” Herbert quickly changed the subject. 

Crawford rolled his eyes. And there it went already. He nodded. “Fine. I’ll get dressed then. Are we waiting for him in the lobby?”

“Planned on it.”

“Fine. Give me a few minutes.”

Herbert said nothing as Crawford about faced into his room and shut the door behind him. As his brother got ready for the day, Herbert managed to pull himself away from his work long enough to change and freshen up for the day. By the time that he went back to his work, Crawford was knocking on the door again and poked his head in.

“It’s almost nine. Wanna head down?”

“I suppose.” This time he did force himself away from his work.

“Is your serum hidden?”

“Yes. Everything is well hidden in my bag. Don’t worry about it.”

The two were silent as they made their way down the hall and to the elevators. To their pleasure, they were the only two on the elevator as they headed down to the lobby. Around the pool level, three, Herbert spoke.

“If Dan asks what we did or asks about the drive down, it was uneventful.”

“Fine.”

“Good.”

The elevator dung for the lobby and the two stepped off and towards the seating area that Herbert knew quiet well. Instead of talking to one another like normal people, they found some magazines on the tables and decided to read those because they were there. Herbert found a science magazine whist Crawford went for the latest issue of TIME.

Dan had finally reached the hotel after a long and confusing taxi ride from the airport to the hotel. After listening to the taxi driver go on and on about how his girlfriend had left him for his cousin, Dan had enough and wanted to either tuck and roll out of the car and walk to the hotel or just pray that it was a lot closer than he thought. To his luck, it was the second option. Quickly he grabbed his things, paid the man, and swiftly walked into the hotel. He let out a breath of relief once inside the hotel.

He had quickly found both brothers sitting in the lobby. They were both reading magazines, a rare occurrence for them, when Dan approached them. He was quiet happy to see that they were both still alive and in one piece and that it looked as neither of them experimented on one another. Always a good sign.

“Herbert. Crawford.” He smiled to the twins. “Seems that neither of you killed each other on the drive down, that’s good to see. How was the car ride?”

Herbert and Crawford exchanged looks to each other before looking to Dan; remembering their short, but stern, conversation in the elevator. “Uneventful.” They responded in unison. 

When the two talked in unison it always freaked Dan out. He just nodded. “Alrighty then. Glad to see.”

“How was your flight, Dan?” Crawford asked, genuinely curious.

“Same as your drive down, uneventful.”

Without looking up from the magazine, Herbert handed Dan a set of keys. “Room key. Fourth floor. 424.”

“Thanks.” Dan grabbed the keys from his roommate. “I’m gonna drop everything off up in the room and how about we get some breakfast?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Crawford smiled to Dan.

Herbert made a noise that sounded like an agreement to the idea, but didn’t tear his eyes from the magazine pages. Instead of saying anything, Dan just nodded and headed towards the elevator to head up to the room and drop his luggage off. Once he was out of the lobby, Crawford shut his book and looked at his brother across the coffee table between them.

“Rude much?”

“To whom?”

“Dan and I.”

“We discussed this. No one is to know anything that we did on the car ride down here.”

“What?” Crawford smirked. “That we bonded over the past twenty four hours?”

Herbert’s head shot up and glared at his brother through his glasses. The glasses should’ve intensified the glare, but to his dismay, it didn’t. Instead, Crawford ignored the glare and merely grinned at his twin.

“Daniel does not need to know anything. We agreed.” Herbert warned.

“Even so.”

“Even so nothing. Nothing happened in the car ride down here and that’s that.”

“Will the same thing happen on the way home?” Crawford asked, trying to keep the hope out of his voice.

“Potentially.” Herbert went back to the magazine. “And that will never be discussed either.”

“Fine.” Crawford crossed his arms over his chest. “Is there a chance that we can act like normal brothers?”

“Normal?”

“Is there a chance we can act like brothers?” Crawford corrected himself.

“Maybe.”

“Like I said last night, I’ll take what I can get.”

In no time, their science filled weekend came to an end. Herbert picked up on a few ideas for his personal work and what he could do to perfect it. Dan was right about that at least. The rest of the weekend, Herbert and Crawford acted as if they didn’t bond over music and little things of that nature. They kept the suspicion from Dan that nothing happened, and it worked. 

The last day of the convention, Sunday, Dan was taking a flight back home later in the evening. With that, he reminded both brothers not to kill each other on their drive home the following morning. Dan had left around four to go to the airport, leaving the brothers alone again for another night. 

Like a light switch, they went back to how they were the day before the convention where they were civil human beings. They went back to the bar and grille from that night and had another enjoyable time. Crawford was going to miss all of their brotherly interactions like this. 

The night went by with nothing interesting or important happening. They agreed to check out and start heading back to Massachusetts around five in the morning to beat the traffic of the city. This time, Crawford took out his contacts before he settled down and dove into a documentary again. Herbert was still running on the shot of reagent from the other night and was still going strong, reading a book that he picked up from the convention. At around ten or so he heard the TV shut off and the light disappear from under the door. 

At around 4:30 or so in the morning, Herbert went to the other room and awoken his brother and told him to get ready. To both of their surprise, Crawford was awake and alert by the time they headed down to check out. They were also both thankful that there were no more twin jokes from the desk clerk. That was a plus.

Crawford let Herbert stay in the lobby till he brought the car down as long as he would get him a coffee to go. With a heavy sigh, Herbert agreed and then his brother was gone. Despite the urge to do an experiment on his brother with the coffee, he decided against it to be ‘nicer’ to him. He made it to his wishes and made one for himself. By the time he headed back to the door with the two cups, Crawford had returned with the car. He thanked his brother for the coffee and even asked if he did anything to it. Never too sure.

By ten after five, the brothers were on the road back home. They enjoyed music once more together and bickered only a few times on their way up. And the bickering was only about music, not about each other directly. If Dan only knew about how much they bonded, he’d be honestly shocked and question who Herbert West even was anymore. 

It seemed to go a lot faster on the drive back home than it did to get down there. It was barely eleven when they got to Herbert and Dan’s house. And that was with two stops in between. 

Crawford parked his car and the two got out. Dan had heard the car pull up into the drive way from his bedroom and decided to peak out the window to watch the two. It was almost like his own little experiment to take notes on.

“This was surprisingly enjoyable.” Crawford noted.

“Indeed.” Herbert agreed as he retrieved his bag from the trunk.

“And I’m sure this will never happen again.”

“Not any time soon.”

“Figured as such.” He nodded. “Is there a chance that we could have this sort of interaction again?”

“Maybe.”

“Seems reasonable.”

“I’ll consider being nicer.”

“Oh wow, thanks. Consider.” Crawford’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “Thanks, really.”

“It’s high on the list.”

“I’m sure it is. Will I see you at the hospital tomorrow?”

“More than likely.” Herbert held out his hand for a handshake.

Crawford gave him a surprised look. “Wow. I’m shocked. You’re the one offering a handshake to me? I should be honored.”

“Either shake my hand or I’ll take it back.”

Not passing up the opportunity to make psychical contact with his brother, he shook his hand. 

From the window, Dan still watched and was in utter shock at the fact that Herbert issued a psychical touch to his brother in the form of a handshake. Before they noticed him, Dan rushed away from the window, still shocked from his roommate’s action.

Herbert pulled away from the hand shake first, of course. Feeling as if he needed to leave to savor the moment of brotherly interaction, Crawford fidgeted with his keys.

“Well. I am going home and going to sleep.” Crawford stated.

“I have some new ideas and theories to get working on.”

“This was a surprisingly interesting weekend.”

“Quite so.”

“I promise this won’t be mentioned ever again.”

“Good.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Herbert. Oh! And tell Dan that this was a fun weekend.” Crawford noted as he got back into his car.

“Yes, yes.”

Crawford held up a hand as a small wave to his brother as he pulled out of the driveway. Herbert merely nodded to his brother and turned around to head into the house. 

Dan had rushed to the living room and was reading a book with a mug of tea on the table, making it look like he had been reading the entire time. Herbert walked in the front door and went right up the stairs to his room. Peaking over the book, Dan watched and waited for Herbert to head back down. There was no way that Herbert was going to waste any time getting to some experiments. 

As predicted, Herbert bounded back down the stairs a few minutes later, notebook in hand. Dan heard the footsteps and buried his nose back into the book and continued to attempt to read it. By the time that Herbert was in the living room and saw Dan trying to look inconspicuous, he sighed.

“You saw that whole interaction, didn’t you Dan?” Herbert asked, facing his roommate.

“What are you talking about? I’ve been sitting here the whole time.”

“I’m sure you have been. Everything went smoothly and we got along, is that what you wanted to hear?”

“Maybe.”

“Well there you go. Crawford and I were around each other for a long period of time and didn’t kill, experiment on each other, and we were civil. There.”

“That I can live with.”

“Don’t expect it to be a reoccurring theme.” Herbert called over his shoulder as he went to the basement door.

“Expect it to always be an option when you’re around him.” Dan hollered back.

“No promises.”

Dan smirked as he heard the basement door shut behind Herbert. All it took was a forced car ride to get two brothers to get along for a short period of time. If Dan would’ve known that sooner, he would’ve done something about it a lot sooner to save stupid fights and experiments on one another.


End file.
